1938-1942: Alex Colville studied painting at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Jersey.

1942-1946: Miltary service.

1963: From this date lived and worked as a freelance painter in Nova Scotia.

1967: Commissioned by the Canadian government to design various gold coins.

1966-1963: Lectureship at Mount Allison University.

1967/8: Lectureship at the University of California in Santa Cruz.

1971: DAAD scholarship in Berlin. Numerous prizes and honorary awards from various universities and institutions in the United States and Canada. In his detailed and intensely atmospheric portrayals of man and nature, Colville displays a close affinity to the school of Magic Realism.